Listen to the Episode
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51
min

Summary

Clara and Alanis attended the Carrboro Anarchist Book Fair on November 22nd, 2014, and decided to try an experiment: recording an episode of the Ex-Worker in front of a live anarchist audience! We started off with our usual Hot Wire news, and then interviewed a wide range of participants from the book fair about workshops or presentations they did or projects they represented. Interviewees spoke about a writing project on southern insurrectionary history; the Can Vries eviction and riots in Barcelona, Spain; rethinking prisoner support based on experiences with anti-authoritarian queer and transgender prisoners; a moving letter by Luke O'Donovan sent from prison specifically to be shared at the book fair; an update about an anarchist injured and arrested at a Philadelphia solidarity demonstration; and participants from the New York City Anarchist Black Cross, the Inside/Outside Alliance, and the UNControllables, an anarchist student group.

Notes and Links

Contents:

The Hot Wire [3:10]

Interviews:

Southern Insurrectionary History [11:42]

The Can Vries Eviction and Riots in Barcelona [18:27]

Rethinking support for anti-authoritarian queer and transgender prisoners [23:26]

A Letter from Luke O’Donovan [27:36]

NYC Anarchist Black Cross on post-release prisoner support [32:50]

Supporters of Andy, an anarchist arrested in Philadelphia [36:03]

The Inside/Outside Alliance from Durham, NC [38:13]

UNControllables, a Chapel Hill-based anarchist student group [41:10]

Next Week’s News [48:03]

Southern Insurrectionary History [11:42]

The Can Vries Eviction and Riots in Barcelona [18:27]

Rethinking support for anti-authoritarian queer and transgender prisoners [23:26]

A Letter from Luke O’Donovan [27:36]

NYC Anarchist Black Cross on post-release prisoner support [32:50]

Supporters of Andy, an anarchist arrested in Philadelphia [36:03]

The Inside/Outside Alliance from Durham, NC [38:13]

UNControllables, a Chapel Hill-based anarchist student group [41:10]

This live episode was an experiment, so let us know what you thought! If you didn’t care much for it, don’t worry—we’ll continue producing episodes in our usual style. If you did like it, then send us suggestions for other circumstances in which we record the show live! Hosting an anarchist event somewhere in North America where you’d like us to come? Drop us a line! (It’s podcast@crimethinc.com, in case we forgot to mention it.)

Despite doing eight interviews, we still only scratched the surface of the presentations and projects at the book fair, which included discussions of green anarchism, Afro-pessimism and self-abolition, mathematics and anti-colonial resistance, the anti-police rebellions in Ferguson, and lots more, plus a graffiti art walk! The full list is available at the Carrboro Anarchist Book Fair website.

You may be wondering why we said that we were recording live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina when it’s called the “Carrboro Anarchist Book Fair.” Chapel Hill is a small university town and Carrboro is an even smaller town adjacent to it; the two main spaces where book fair workshops and tabling took place are on either side of the dividing line. It’s confusing, we know.

Comrades from Philadelphia are seeking support for Andy, a young anarchist who was attacked and injured by police at a Ferguson solidarity demonstration; supporters are helping to raise money towards his medical and legal expenses. Help out if you can!

We heard from the Chapel Hill, NC-based student group UNControllables, who organize, among many other events, a “Radical Rush” week of events, which included this impressive “Disorientation Guide” for local student radicals. If you’re interested in connecting with them, especially if you’re a fellow student interested in anarchist university organizing, you can contact them to carolinauncontrollables at gmail dot com, or - sigh - via Facebook.

Ohio anarchist prisoner Sean Swain has put out a call for support for Blackjack, his former cell mate. Do you remember the excerpt we read back in Episode 10 of Sean’s essay “Days of Tear Gas, Blood and Vomit,” his hilarious and inspiring account of fighting off a goon squad of heavily armed “extraction squad” armed with little more than a tube of toothpaste, a broken broomstick, and some styrofoam cups? Blackjack was his co-conspirator in that rebellion, which is more than enough to merit our admiration. He’s been in solitary for over a year, targeted for being an anarchist and because a rap verse he wrote appeared in materials by the 12 Monkeys crew of prison rebels. Send him some mail if you have the chance.

About CrimethInc.

CrimethInc. is a rebel alliance—a decentralized network pledged to anonymous collective action—a breakout from the prisons of our age. We strive to reinvent our lives and our world according to the principles of self-determination and mutual aid.

We believe that you should be free to dispose of your limitless potential on your own terms: that no government, market, or ideology should be able to dictate what your life can be. If you agree, let’s do something about it.